A great, foolproof chinese way of roasting a whole chicken. Because you first poach it in mastersauce before you roast it in the oven, your chicken will never turn out dry or undercooked. On the contrary, it will be moist and succulent and delicious for sure.
There are a lot of ingredients that go into the sauce, but the great thing is, you can freeze it and use it over and over again. Every time adding some new fresh ingredients like the ginger, garlic or whatever you have available. The sauce will improve every time you use it. There is a restaurant in Shanghai, famous for its soy chicken or duck and the mastersauce they use is said to be over a 100 years old! (I couldn’t find the source for this story though, if you can, please let me know)

RECIPE

Make a mastersauce by simmering the following ingredients for about 15 minutes in a pan that is just big enough to fit your chicken:

Wash your chicken, put it in the pan with the mastersauce, breastside down (see photo). Bring to the boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Then turn the chicken, breastside up and simmer for another 10 minutes. Let the chicken cool down in the sauce. I don’t know for how long and if it’s really necessary, I’m just passing the message from the original recipe. I normally let it cool down for just half an hour or so, until I’m ready to prepare dinner.

Let the chicken drip/drain on a rack.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Rub the chicken with the olive oil .
Put chicken on a baking tray or rack.
Put in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.
Serve with white rice & bok choy salad, ovenroasted potatoes & corn on the cob or cold for a picknick.

Sieve the sauce, let it cool down (preferably quickly), remove the fat from the surface and then freeze it in a container or freezerbag. You can use it over and over again.

Interesting info and recipes. What can I used as a substitute for Shaoshing wine – I usually use Japanese rice vinegar in other recipes. Would love to make the mastersauce that I can use over and over again – Thnx.

As it’s such a substantial part of this recipe, I wouldn’t substitute it with anything. Just go and buy yourself a bottle of Shaoxing! It’s available in just about every Asian shop there is.

But to answer your question, some people like to substitute Shaoxing with dry sherry. And I think the recipe could work with Japanse ricewine (sake) too. Maybe even a bit of brandy, but less, much less brandy than Shaoxing.

Personally I would never replace the Shaoxing with mirin. Mirin is almost like a syrup, so sweet. I’d rather replace it with sake. Others use medium dry sherry. (I’d never!) But if you like the results, good for you! :-)

Next time you don’t have to make a new batch, you just add some fresh ingredients, like some ginger or spring onion or sometimes a new star anise. Another splash of Shaoxing or soy sauce. Just as you like, improvise.